Vise Versa: Role Reversal
by earthtosarah
Summary: <html><head></head>What would Jace and Clary's lives be like if they were switched? Clary Wayland is born a shadowhunter, and Jace Fray, completely oblivious to that world. Jace stumbles into a world he'd never heard of, and ends up falling in love with Clary.  Please R&R.</html>
1. His Life

Jace woke up to the smell of pancakes creeping into his bedroom. There was light spilling in through the windows, and the way it hit his golden colored hair made it shine. He pulled himself out of bed and looked in the mirror. After giving his hair a good shaking, he made his way to the kitchen.

Jocelyn was holding a spatula and was dancing to some old song playing on the small, old little radio they had. She grabbed the plate of pancakes and turned around, gasping when she saw Jace standing there watching her. Her free hand flew to her heart.

"Jace! You nearly scared the life out of me!" she said, setting the pancakes down. Jace noticed she had paint on her face and overalls. He gave his mom a big grin and walked toward the cabinet to get plates out.

"Am I that scary to look at?" he asked, setting a plate on each end of the small table.

She ruffled his hair then laid her hand on his cheek. "Of course not, baby."

"Mo-o-om," he whined, pulling away from her. "I'm seventeen." For a second, Jocelyn look hurt, but then she smiled.

"Of course you are. Old enough to make your own pancakes then?"

"Hey now, I never said-" he began, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Jocelyn jumped out of her chair.

"Coming!" she shouted. It was Uncle Luke and his adopted daughter, Maia, who was also his best friend. Luke owns a library and they live in an apartment type of things behind it. He smiled and pushed up his round glasses.

"Word on the street is you've made your famous pancakes." He said, smiling. It was true. Anyone who knew Jocelyn knew she made the best pancakes you could ever have.

"Now, where did you hear such a crazy thing?" Jocelyn said laughing.

"Some crazy red-headed lady called me up. You should see her. Paint all over her and everything." They both laughed and the three of them came back into the kitchen. Jocelyn got excited to show Luke her mewest painting and they went of to the living room, while Maia stayed behind. She sat down across from Jace and leaned her elbows on the table.

"So, I was thinking we should go to Pandemonium tonight. There's a few local bands playing tonight. It'll be fun." She propped her elbows on the table and folded her hands under her chin waiting for his respomse.

She had on a neon pink tank top, and you could see her white scar. It stood out a lot against her dark skin. Last year when they met, he saw it right away and she had caugtht him staring. "Dog attack," was all she said about it and, "It needed 24 stitches," before moving on to a different topic.

"Sure, sounds fun," he said. They went to Pandemonium a lot, mostly because they wanted to see the people dressed up in their dorky costumes. There was always atleast 50 people dressed as a faerie and vampire, and then the oddball kid who would dress as something from one of those nerdy video games. Maia always liked those the best, though, being a fan of those games.

After finishing their pancakes, their _delicious_ pancakes, Jace and Maia went to find Luke and Jocelyn, who were jabbering on about some book or something. They said their goodbyes and after they had left, Jocelyn said she had to go pick up some more paint supplies, so Jace was left alone. He went into his room and drew Maia, but as always, he could get her scar to look quite right.


	2. Pandemonium

They were standing in line outside Pandemonium, the music pumping out of the building and fading into the sounds of the city. When they were only a few people from the door, the line got held up at the front.

"You can't bring that thing in here." Jace could barely hear the bouncer saying. He tried to see who he was talking to, leaning around people to get a better view.

"Why not," he heard the boy ask. He had blue hair, spiked up in all directions, and he was holding something. It glinted when he moved it. A _knife. _"It's fake. See?" Wait, it didn't look like a knife at all. It was fake wood and he watched as the boy bent it to a ninety degree angle. "It's fake," he told the bouncer with a cruel smile, "I'm a _vampire_ slayer." The boy went in, and they were finally walking through the doors into the dark club. Jace couldn't shake the image of the knife from his head. He swore he'd seen it…

"Dude, you look like you ate a bad taco or something," Maia was saying to him, "Come on, let's go watch the bands." She grabbed his hand and dragged him through the crowd.

The second band had just finished their set and was packing up their equipment, and Jace and Maia were dancing to the music the DJ was playing. Mostly, Maia was dancing and Jace was swaying. He wasn't into the pop stuff they played; he was more of a piano guy.

Maia grabbed his hand and tried to get him to dance, but he just spun her, ballerina style. Mid-spin, he let her go, a boy catching his eye. He had jet black hair and was wearing all black. It was surprising that Jace even saw him in the dark club. The boy had pale white skin, bright blue eyes, indescribably blue, and those eyes were staring across the room at the spiky, blue haired boy from before. The blue haired boy was looking in a different direction, at a girl, dressed in white with the same jet black hair, pale skin and very, very blue eyes. Her white dress had long sleeves and it was very old fashioned. She was extremely beautiful, super-model beautiful, and Jace watched as she beckoned the blue haired boy over to her. She practically glided while she walked. She opened a door that read _Employees Only _written in red, and slid inside. Only a second later, the blue haired boy went in after her.

Jace would've ignored this scene he'd watched, if it weren't for what he saw next. He heard Maia talking, but ignored her. He was too busy watching the dark haired boy walk up to the door and signal across the room. A small, redheaded girl followed him over, both wearing all black and bearing knives. They shared a look, opened the door and carefully shut it after sliding in.

"Oh my god, Maia!" he turned, interrupting her. "Did you just see that?"

"Thank you for listening to me in my time of need," she dramatically wiped a fake tear from her cheek, "Did I see what?"

"There were a boy and a redhead girl," he said, frantic and panicky, "They had knives! They're in that closet!"

"I didn't see anything, but I'll go get the security guard." She ran off toward the entrance. Jace tried to wait for her, but he got so fidgety. He had to do _something_. Who knew what was happening in there?

He shoved his way through the crowd towards the door. He mentally prepared himself for whatever would lay behind that door, and went in. Silently, he shut it behind him.

"What's your name?"

She turned and smiled. It was dimly lit and musty smelling room. He could still feel the life and energy pulsing around her, could already taste the phantom sizzle of her soon-to-come death on his lips.

"Isabelle."

"That's a nice name." He moved closer. In this lightning, she looked drained of color, wrapped in white like an angel. It would be a pleasure to make her fall… "I haven't seen you here before."

She giggled, moving her hand to cover her mouth. The boy noticed a bracelet, but it wasn't a bracelet, but a pattern of ink on her skin, a matrix of swirling lines.

He froze. "You—"

She moved so fast, handing him a hit to the chest, sending him staggering backward. As if from thin air, a whip had appeared in her hand, and she brought it down, around his ankles. She yanked on it hard, bringing him tumbling down. Still wrapped around his ankles, she pulled the whip tight, securing it.

"My work here is done," she said. Two figures emerged from the shadows behind the shelves.

"Are there anymore with you?" a redheaded girl asked him. Her hair was medium length and curly. She stared at him with those fierce, green eyes.

"Anymore what?"

"Come on," another voice said. It was a boy, maybe a year older than Isabelle, with the same exact looks. Probably her brother. "You know what we are." He raised his sleeves, revealing black lines, intertwined into all different intricate shapes and symbols.

"_Shadowhunters." _


	3. Party Crasher

Jace looked around the room…. And saw nothing. _There's no one here, _he thought. He foot was tangled in some wires, and he bent to untangle it, and heard _voices._ He looked up and saw them.

There was the black-haired boy holding up his sleeve to the blue-haired boy, whose hands were being bound by the little red-head, and his feet were wrapped up in a whip. The tall, black-haired girl was leaning on the wall looking bored and the red-head stood up and walked over to stand next to black haired boy.

"_Shadowhunters."_ The blue haired boy spat.

"Gotcha." The tall girl laughed.

"You still haven't told us," the little one said, "if there's any more of you kind with you."

_Your kind? _Jace tried to think of what that could mean. Maybe he'd stumbled onto some kind of gang war.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The punk boy said.

"He means other demons." The other boy said. "You know what a _demon_ is, don't you?"

"Demons," the short one said, writing the word in the air with her finger, "religiously defined as Satan's servants but understood to be any malevolent spirit that's originated outside our home dimension—"

"That's enough, Clary." The tall girl said.

_Demons? _Jace thought. _These people are crazy, _actually _crazy._

The red-head, _Clary, _hung her head in embarrassment and her cheeks turned a deep pink. It was cute. Jace shook that lost fault from his head. _Psycho killers_ _are _not_ cute,_ he reminded himself. "Sorry," the girl mumbled.

"I know where Valentine is," the so-called-devil-spawn practically shouted, like he was telling them in return for his life.

"Me too," Clary said, "He's in the ground. Where he should be. Where he has been for a good sixteen years. The thing's just playing with us."

"Kill it, Alec. It doesn't have anything we need."

_Alec_ raised his hand, gripping a knife. The blade wasn't metal though, it was as clear as crystal and looked about as sharp as a shard of glass, red stones embedded in the hilt. The punk kid gasped, "Valentine's back! I swear!" he protested. "All the Infernal Worlds know it! I know it!" He kept shouting things that didn't make any sense to Jace. He watched as Alec leaned back, ready to put the knife in the boy. Jace couldn't just let the punk boy _die_. Without thinking, he lunged forward from his hiding spot, pummeling Alec to the ground.

Everything happened so fast. All the sudden, the punk kid was freed from whatever had bound him and was lunging toward Clary. She pulled out her own blade almost lightning fast and slashed the punk kid across the chest and he fell to ground. A black liquid oozed from the wound, definitely not normal blood. The now-injured boy jumped up clutching his chest, and bared his teeth, _two rows of them._

_Maybe _I'm _the one going insane, _Jace thought.

The tall girl jumped up behind the demon, and Jace was sure it was a demon now, and lashed her whip out. It look like a stream of gold light as it sliced the air with beauty and grace… and it made a snapping sound as it made contact with his back, like when you pull a rubber band too far and it breaks, but I'm sure this hurt about three thousand times that amount.

The demon boy staggered forward with his arms stretched out behind him and he screamed in pain. It was only for a second, but it was enough time for Clary to shove her dagger into his abdomen. He fell to the ground and, as if there wasn't a bone in his body, he started to fold in on himself. First, his legs folded up and his arms, his head, all curling toward the center of his body, which was quickly getting smaller by the second. Within the span of 5 second, the thing was gone. Not even of drop of its black ooze remained on the floor.

"What were you thinking?" The tall girl shouted at him, "You could've gotten us killed, or he could've _escaped._"

"I thought he was a regular kid!" Jace was shouting at her too. He had never been known to go down without a fight. "How was I supposed to know he was some devil spawn, flesh-eating monster thing?"

"Well if you'd heard us say _demon,_" her voice was like venom when she said the word, "maybe you would understand! You stupid little mundane—"

"STOP!" Clary was screaming. "It's not his fault, Isabelle." She looked at Jace with a sheepish smile on her face. He smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. Now will someone tell me what's going on?"

"Wait how can you see us?" Clary asked.

"What do you mean?" Clary opened her mouth, ready to answer, when the door burst open and Maia and the bouncer flew in.

"Jace," Maia looked confused, "where'd they go?"

"Uh, I don't know, no one's in here." He heard Alec laugh from behind him, but by the look on Maia and the Bouncer's faces, they didn't hear, or even _see_ him. "Must've been a mistake, sorry." The bouncer looked annoyed and walked out with an angry scoff. Maia walked to his side and put her hand on his arm.

"You're weird," she said shaking her head, then smiling, "but that's why I love you." Then holding his wrist, she pulled him out of the room.

Just before the door shut, Jace turned around and saw the three of them standing there, not only were they waving at him, but they were laughing.


	4. Never Let You Fall

****NOTEEEEE: Okay, so don't worry, Jace will still have the same personality, I just haven't found a good part for him to be the sarcastic ass we all know and love 3 and it's kinda of hard to make him so full of himself because he's not a shadowhunter, therefore he's not a demon-slaying beast either. But all in good time, and remember patience is a virtue little grasshoppers. (I apologize; it's like 1 am so I'm extra weird)****

Jace lie awake, thinking about what had happened at Pandemonium. What _had_ happened, anyway? He couldn't sleep, and when something's on his mind, he likes to run, or do push-ups, or chin ups, basically anything that required a lot of physical strain.

He hopped out of bed, put on a pair of shorts and grabbed his sneakers. He waited to put them on until he was outside, not wanting to risk his mom hear him sneaking out. He looked at his watch. 2 am.

For some reason, he wanted to run through a certain area. By now, he couldn't wait to get there. He laced up his sneakers and took off down the street.

He found a bench with a tree behind it, the branches extending over the bench, and sat down, putting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Some time passed, maybe an hour, maybe just five minutes and he felt someone's gaze on him. He sat up and looked around. _What now. Have I stumbled upon an army of invisible donkeys with wings? _At that thought, he looked up, and laughed at his foolishness. What would be above him?

A pair of green eyes watching him_, _that's what.

"SHIT." He screamed, jumping off the bench. "What the hell, man?"

The girl sitting on the tree branch look offended. "I," she said putting her hand to her chest, "am not a man. I am a girl. Surely, you know what a girl is?" With cat like grace she turned and hopped off the branch, landing one foot at a time. "By the way you screamed, I almost though _you_ were a girl yourself." She smiled, trying to show she was kidding.

"I did _not_ scream like a girl. I screamed like any normal guy would if he looked up and saw some girl just sitting there _watching_ him like it's her business."

Her cheeks flushed and she crossed her arms. "Well I wasn't the one mumbling about invisible donkeys with wings."

They both sat there in silence, Clary waiting for his reaction, and Jace looking confused and embarrassed, realizing he had said that out loud. After about thirty seconds, the smiles that were tugging at their lips had taken over and they were both gripping their stomachs, laughing so hard they were gasping for air by the time it subsided.

Somehow they'd both ended up on the bench, Clary sitting with one leg on the bench Indian-style, facing him. It took about a minute for them to completely compose themselves after all that laughing. Jace couldn't remember a time he'd laughed _that_ hard. It was weird. He didn't even know this girl and they were sitting here like old friends reunited.

They sat there another minute just listening to the distant sounds of the city: the beat of music thumping into the night, the honking of horns…

"Who _are_ you?" Clary asked him.

"Jace." He said, caught off-guard. "Jace Fray."

"That's not exactly what I meant, but nice to meet you Jace Fray." She extended an arm towards him with a smile and he shook it. It was small and felt soft. "I'm Clary Wayland."

"It's a pleasure, Clary Wayland." He said back. They shared a smile. "What did you mean, that wasn't what you meant, though?"

"Well…" she tried to find the words, "you're not exactly supposed to be able to see us."

"Us?"

"Isabelle and Alec," she said, "The two that were with me at the club."

"Ah, I see. Pun intended." The both laughed. "Why shouldn't I see you again?"

"Glamours." She replied, as if that cleared everything up. "They're supposed to hide us from humans, or at least make things appear to them as something that wouldn't exactly catch their attention."

"Humans," he asked, eyes widening, "You mean you're not—"

"Human," she finished for him, "Not exactly…"

"Is this the part when you tell me you're an alien, here to slice me open, and study my organs?"

"Something like that." She said with a smile, and then proceeded to tell him about the world, the _real_ world. It was a world full of magic, and evil. Demons and monsters and vampires and werewolves, even faeries. Jace sat there, listening to every word of it, not saying anything until she was done.

"So you're a Shadowhunter?" Jace asked, "And you fight demons and vampires and all that?"

"We only fight vampires if they've gone rogue and killed humans. Vampire, werewolves, faeries, anything like that, we don't bother them if they don't bother us. It's the demons we're after."

"That's hot," Jace said without thinking. Clary looked up, startled, and blushed, which she seemed to do a lot. "I mean, cool. That's really cool, you know, sounds exciting…" His voice trailed off as he realized he was talking too much and he couldn't pull off that slip-up.

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that." Clary tried to pretend she hadn't heard the first part.

"So Isabelle and Alec, they're Shadowhunters too?"

"Yup."

Jace nodded in response and looked at her. She was looking down, fumbling with a ring on her necklace.

"Why's that on a chain around your neck and not on your finger?" Jace asked, curious.

She looked up and smiled, "It's too big for any of my fingers." She held out her hand, her fingers stretched out to prove her point.

"Well why'd you get it then?" Jace said with a laugh.

"It was my fathers," She said looking down at it again, away from Jace, "He left it for me when he died…" she trailed off.

"Clary…" Jace said quietly, laying his hand gently on her arm. "I had no idea."

"It's okay," she said, turning to face forward on the bench. "How would you know anyway?" She smiled a sad, weak little smile, only one corner of her mouth going up. It faded fast. "I watched them… They came in and they didn't know I was there."

"Clary, you don't have to…" Jace said, but she didn't hear him.

"I hid. I thought dad would be so proud that they didn't find me. They didn't see me but I saw them. These two big men, they cut his throat and left him to bleed all over, right in front of me…"

They sat there in silence, and when she started to cry, it was so soft that you almost couldn't tell she was crying, Jace pulled her closer and let her lay her head in his lap. She cried for a few minutes, before sitting up quickly. "I'm sorry," quickly wiping her tears with the back of her hand, "I didn't mean to throw all that on you all the sudden. I barely even know you. I just feel like…" She trailed off and just looked up at him. "You're easy to talk to. I've never told anyone that before." A tear she had missed hung on her cheek. _I won't let you fall,_ he thought as he quickly swiped his thumb over it, not sure if he was saying it to the tear, or Clary.

"If it helps," he said, "I don't have a dad either. He died before I was born. And about throwing all that on me," he lifter her face to see her eyes, and she stared back at him. "I don't mind." He pulled her close again, until she was sitting on his lap, and they sat like that for a long time. It felt like forever, but Jace wished it was longer.

**NOOOOOTE(again): god, me with all these notes... i just wanted to mention that the part where it says "**he put on a pair of shorts..." **i accidentally typed **"he put on short shorts" **and i could NOT stop laughing. just imagine...**

**Jace Wayland/Morgenstern/Herondale/(in this case)Fray n short shorts. like... pink ones. maybe add some bunny slippers to the picture, just for shits and giggles. i told my friend ( we-will-not-fall-down GO READ HER SHIT, IT'S GOOD SHIT) and we were both legitimately LOLing. ohhh... funny stuff.**

**but ANYWAY! if i spelled random stuff wrong and you're like is she brain dead? then i apologize. at this point its 2:18 am WOOH! i've been sitting here drinking tea, eating cheezits and writing fanfics for the past few hours. ya know, a day in the life of your average 16 year old girl, right? (sike...) now that i've told you my life stpry... REVIEW! PLEASE! I LOVE GETTING REVIEWS 3  
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	5. Good Morning

**Warning: This chapter's pretty boring. Soowweeeey. The next one's better, I promise. 3**

He slowly opened his eyes and remembered where he was. Looking down at Clary, who was now laying on the bench, her head in his lap, he smiled. How had this happened so easily? He'd never made friends easily. His mom had homeschooled him. He was lucky that Luke came over all the time and once he's adopted Maia, he'd practically seen her every day. The only choice they had was to be friends, not that they didn't want to be. But here he was, this pretty girl curled up next to him, sound asleep. He smiled again.

He looked around, it was still dark out, but the street light lit up the area a little. He checked his watch, which read 4:37 am. His arms still around Clary, he shut his eyes, willing himself to fall back to sleep. Sleep didn't come though, because only a moment later, he heard the sound of a door opening then closing. Then someone was yelling and running towards him. His eyes flew back open and he frantically look around. He saw a shadow running and then it hit the light. It was that Alec kid.

Jace lifted Clary into the sitting position. "Clary, wake up," He half-whispered, half-yelled. He stroked he tangled, curly hair down with one hand and tapped her arm with the other. "Clary," he said again.

Her eyes were slowly fluttering open when Alec reached them he grabbed Jace be the sleeve and pulled him off the bench. "GET OFF OF HER," he was yelling, "What do you think you're doing?"

"We were just—I was here, and then she—" Jace struggled to find the right words, "I don't know, we just fell asleep!" He pulled himself out of Alec's grip and stepped back, brushing himself off.

"Alec, Jesus!" Clary said, standing up. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with _you!_ What were you thinking?" He asked, "Sleeping out on a public bench with some stranger? No glamours or—"

"His name is Jace. Jace Fray," Clary said, her face completely serious, her eyes not leaving Alec's, "This is Alec Lightwood."

"oh, _I'm _sorry," Alec said sarcastically, "Now that he has a name, he's not a stranger?"

"Nice to meet you too…" Jace muttered.

Alec looked taken aback and looked at Jace like he was a puppy he'd just kicked. He sighed and his face looked more relaxed and less constipated. "God… I'm really sorry. You're obviously not a threat—"

"Not a threat!" Jace repeated and laughed.

"—I just don't want something bad to happen to Clary. I can be a little overprotective sometimes."

Clary smiled. "Yes, you can," she said, ruffling his hair. He pulled away, embarrassed, but a look of adoration had spread across his face when he did.

"Sorry," he said again, pulling his gaze away from Clary, "Nice to meet you, Jace." He held out his hand. After a moment of confusion, Jace took it.

"You too," Jace said, unsure if he meant it or not.

They all stood there for a few seconds not knowing what to say.

"What time is it?" Clary said interrupting the awkward silence.

"Almost five," Jace replied. He watched as she stretched her arms out above her, squished her eyes shut tight, and yawned. It reminded him of a little kitten. She straightened out and opened her eyes, and Jace quickly looked away. He couldn't help but notice Alec doing the same.

"We should go inside," Clary said, oblivious to their stares. "Alec, do you think he can come in?" she asked, "I mean, if you want," she quickly added, looking at Jace.

"Sure," both boys said at the same time.

"Welcome," Clary said, turning to the building right next to them, "to the Institute."

At first, the building had looked like a worn down, abandoned building, but after the glamour swept away, Jace had had seen it practically transform into the gleaming building it really was. Looking around the inside, he saw it was just as beautiful and very old fashioned.

Clary and Alec lead him to a set of huge doors. Swinging them opened, a huge library was revealed. There was a wooden desk in the center with a man sitting behind it. He peered over the top of his book, sighed, and then put it down. "Alec," he said, "What did our little Clary get herself into this time?" He eyed Jace curiously. "This boy is not a Shadowhunter, is he?"

"He could see through the glamours. But he doesn't have any spells on him to give him the sight." Clary said. "We talked about it earlier," she added, "And… he kind of knows everything now."

The man shook his head, "Clary, Clary Clary…" he began, "I guess it's not as bad this time, under the circumstances that he has the sight on his own." He turned to Jace now. "Are your parents Shadowhunters? Or even just one of them, by chance?"

"It's just me and my mom. I don't think she was ever a Shadowhunter. She'd never told me about anything like this. I've never known my dad; he died before I was born. So, I couldn't tell you about him."

"Hmm…" the man tapped his finger on his chin. "I suppose it's possible he could've been one… Oh! I'm sorry! How rude of me," He stood from his chair and walked over to them. "I'm Hodge."

"Jace." They shook hands. There was a lot of hand-shaking going on recently, Jace noticed.

"What a peculiar name."

"My mother made it up. It was nickname she had for my father. His initials were J.C., Jonathon Christopher."

Hodge nodded, obviously thinking. "What's your last name, Jace? If he was a Shadowhunter, I could find out."

"Oh, my mother and I use her maiden name, Fray. She never told me his last name." Jace hadn't realized this before, and wondered why she hadn't mentioned it. Was he really a Shadowhunter? Does that make _him_ a Shadowhunter also?

"Well, Jace, I think you and your mother need to have a talk. You may be one of us."


	6. Without a Trace

**Lemme know if you like this. Better to come hopefully. R&R, I really love it when you do. (:**

Jace was walking home. All he could think about was how mad his mom would be when he got in. He turned the corner and opened the doors to his building. He hesitated in front of the Fray's door. A small sign hung on the door that read, _All are Welcome!_

He took a deep breath, reaching for the key in his pocket. He pulled it out, but when he went to unlock the door, he noticed the door was already open, just a crack. His mom never left the door unlocked, definitely not _open._ He slowly pushed the door open wider and gasped. The apartment didn't have a single thing in it indicating someone could live there. It had been stripped of everything. Even the microwave was missing from where it once sat. Jace stepped in and looked around. On the floor was his mom's little red radio, playing static. The antenna was bent. He turned the dial to _off_ and went to inspect the rest of the house. In the living room, there were paintings strewn all over the place, with long, jagged slashes through them. Canvas was hard to cut with a sharp knife, so what could've done all this?

A small crash came from the direction of Jace's room. He froze. After listening for a minute or two, he heard nothing. He made his way toward his bedroom. The door was almost shut, but he could just make out bits of his room through the small opening. Everything looked normal and intact. He swung the door open. On his bed, the sheets were torn and pillow fluff was tossed all around. That's not what Jace saw though. He was too focused on the _thing_ sitting on top of the mess. It was a mix of a giant insect and a small alligator. It was covered in slime. It turned towards him.

"The _boy._" It hissed. Did it just _talk_ to him?

Jace acted fast. He leaped towards the closest dresser and grabbed a few books, then hurtled them, one at a time, at the creature staring at him. A couple hit it, but not hard enough to do any damage. It slithered off the bed towards him.

"BACKOFF!" Jace screamed at it. It _laughed._ It was a horrible and sickening laugh, a mix of a gurgling sound and a scoff. It started moving faster. Jace ran to the other side of the room and grabbed a baseball bat leaned against the wall. "I said: _Back. Off._" He repeated through clenched teeth, swinging the bat slightly in his hands.

"He only wanted _her,_" the thing was saying, "Said nothing about a boy. Nothing. Smells so good. He will never know." It was leaving a stream of slightly greenish-clear drool along the floor.

When it got too close to run from, Jace swung the bat _hard._ He pulled it back to give another blow to the creature, but the thing had attached itself to the end of the bat, and was eating away at the makeshift weapon. Jace swung it, baseball style, again the wall, releasing it as he did so.

It fell to the ground and some black liquid started to bubble out of its mouth, like the demon at Pandemonium had. But it wasn't dead yet. It was staggering, but still coming for him. Jace grabbed the first thing he could reach, a lighter, just as the thing sprung at him. It knocked him to the ground and sat on his chest. Its claws were digging into his chest, ripping his t-shirt. The weight of the iguana-like creature was crushing him, and he could hardly breathe. He flicked open the lighter and lit his own shirt on fire. All he was thinking was that he had to kill this thing _somehow._ It started to work. His flaming shirt was burning the monster, but the drool spilling out its mouth put out the flame. Jace flailed his arms beside him, grasping for anything. His hand touched cool metal. He tightened his grip on whatever it was, and stabbed at the crushing body on top of him. It let out a screeching cry, and Jace stabbed at it again, but got a more direct hit. The black liquid pouring out of its wounds splashed at Jace, burning and stinging his skin, making a sizzling noise.

It was at that moment that he knocked against the dresser next to him, and a thick picture frame fell down, knocking him unconscious. The last thing he saw was a photo of his mother and himself, both of their faces smiling at him from behind the glass, as they shattered into him.

Clary sat on the edge of her bed, looking at the unconscious boy that lay in it. She watched the slow rise and fall of his chest, the wounds on it almost completely healed, thanks to the _iratzes _they'd given had taken a day to convince Hodge that Jace was no mundane; the _iratzes_ wouldn't do him any harm. It was obvious he was a Shadowhunter, from what they'd seen.

They had gotten alerts of high demonic presence, and it led Clary, Isabelle and Alec to Jace's apartment. Almost everything was gone when they'd gone in and they thought maybe it was abandoned. Then they heard the screeching sound come from a back room, then the shattering of glass.

They'd found Jace, unconscious and bleeding, lying next to a dead Ravenor demon. In his hand, he held a letter opener. On the handle, there were runes carved into it, faintly glowing. They'd assumed Jace had killed the demon and brought him back to the Institute to heal him. That was three days ago. He probably hadn't woken up yet because the Ravenor's blood had splashed into his wounds and had begun to spread through his system. They'd called in a warlock in to heal him. Now it was just a matter of waiting for him to wake up, which should happen soon, the warlock had told them.

The thin line of sunshine streaming out from under the curtain cast over Jace's face. His hair was like pure gold, and he looked like an angel. His long eyelashes began to slowly flutter open. His eyebrows crinkled, and he looked around, his expression very confused. "Where am I?" he said out loud to himself, not yet seeing Clary. He tried to sit himself up and winced, then lied back down. He brought his hand and covered his eyes with it, looking like he was trying to remember what happen.

Clary smiled, "Welcome to the club, Shadowhunter."


	7. New Beginning

"So, I _did_ kill it?" he asked, trying to hide his disbelief. Clary nodded. Jace had just woken up about ten minutes ago, and the two of them sat facing each other, cross-legged on her bed. She couldn't help but notice the way the light from the window behind him shone through his golden hair. It looked like a halo, almost. He really did look like an angel, not that she had ever had the chance to see one.

"We found you just as it was disappearing, and you had a letter opener in your hand with runes carved into the handle. Did you know there were runes on it?"

"Oh yeah," he said, trying to make his sarcasm obvious, "Would you like to see my magical can opener? That has glowing hieroglyphics on it, too. It comes in handy when demons come by for something to drink." Clay started to think this boy would get on her nerves, but then he flashed a smile and her stomach twisted a little. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't give me that look," he joked. Her eyes were so green, he thought, and it reminded him of a cat. She was like a little orange cat.

"Oh, I will give you whatever look I want. After all, you are the guest here."

"Now, that doesn't even make sense. Most people tend to treat their guests with extra respect, not the other way around."

"Well you seem to be the exception to many rules," she replied with a shrug.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked. Her cheeks quickly turned pink, and her mouth hung open as if she would answer him, but the door to her room opened and Alec stepped in.

"Oh," he said looking surprised, and slightly embarrassed. His eyes looked from Clary to Jace, and then back to Clary again, where he kept his gaze. "Um," he cleared his throat, "I thought Hodge said to let him know when he had woken up." He motioned toward Jace.

"I know, I just—" she began.

"She was just about to go find him," Jace said, with a smile. He liked the idea of having a secret, even one this small, with Clary.

"Oh," Alec said looking a little relieved. "Well, let's go then." Clary hopped off the bed, and Jace stood up next to her. Alec led the way out, while the other two walked beside each other behind him. Clary gave Jace a questioning look, and he just shrugged in return, as if saying _why not_. Clary raised her eyebrows in return, and looked away. Jace watched her a second or two longer before directing his attention to the hall they walked through.

It was a dimly lit hallway, with a door every several feet, for which he assumed were more rooms like Clary's. He found himself wondering how many people lived in the institute.

Alec led them to the same magnificent library, where Hodge sat at his desk, writing, with his glasses propped on the tip of his nose. He was so deep in thought as he wrote, he didn't notice the three come in. Alec coughed quietly in a failed attempt to get Hodge's attention. He just sat there writing. "Hodge!" Clary shouted, and he finally looked up, startled. He quickly moved the papers he'd been writing on to the bottom of his neat pile and folded his hands over them.

"I'm sorry, I was lost in thought," he said with a smile. "I see you're awake," he said to Jace.

_No,_ Jace was tempted to say in reply, but he didn't think this man would take sarcasm very well. He simply nodded instead.

"Good, and you're not in pain anywhere?" Jace shook his head. "Dizzy?"

"No."

"Nauseous?"

"Nope."

"Well," Hodge stood, clapping his hands together, "I guess you're good to go then."

Jace didn't know what came over him next, but his hands balled into tight fists. "Good to go? What about my mom? Aren't we going to look for her or something?"

Hodge held his hands up in defense. "No, I'm sorry, you've misunderstood! I simply meant that you're well enough to be up and moving about." He put a hand on Jace's shoulder. "We will do everything to find your mother." He smiled a very friendly sort of smile, but for some reason Jace just wanted to be away from this man. Just the feeling of his hand on his shoulder was making him uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, realizing he had just yelled in front of Clary and Alec. He glanced at the two expecting them to look appalled, but they looked sympathetic, especially Clary.

"We'll find your mom," she said with a small, reassuring smile. He believed it more when she said it.

"Thank you," Jace said quietly with a nod. Alec coughed, breaking the small silence.

"You're probably starving," he said, "There's breakfast is you're hungry."

Suddenly, and quite loudly, Jace's stomach rumbled, and the three of them laughed, while Hodge just walked back to his desk.

"I'm starved."


End file.
